Sutta Piṭaka

Suttas from the Pāli Canon

translated by
Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu

Index for handhelds …

Introduction & about …

How to …

Some prefer to learn by trial and error; others prefer an explanation. This short guide to using this “accordion” table of contents is for the latter.

There are three fundamental actions, 1) following links, 2) expanding, and 3) collapsing.

1) Links, which navigate to a new page, usually to a sutta, will always appear as a rounded white button on a gray panel, like the “Translator’s note,” above.

After following the link, if you hit the back button on your browser, it will return you to same place, and with the accordion in the same expanded state, as you were before. This is useful for reading suttas sequentially.

If instead you hit the home button on the footer, it will return you to the accordion in its default, collapsed state. This might be useful for those who want to start fresh without having to manually close a bunch of subsections.

2) Expanding the accordion to reveal a) another subsection or b) a short summary of the referenced sutta, is accomplished by clicking on the gray panel.

Sometimes a white link button will appear by itself without any text at all in the gray panel. In these cases there is nothing to expand, and clicking on anything other than the link itself will simply result in nothing happening. If there is something to expand, there will always be some kind of text in the gray, even if only a minimal indicator, such as the ellipses (…) alongside the links to the Itivuttaka suttas.

Also, on desktops and laptops only, the field will turn orange when hovering with the mouse cursor if expansion is possible, and remain gray if not.

3) Collapsing subsections of the accordion has to be done manually for technical reasons. There are incidental benefits, though, for being able to maintain a number of subsections or descriptions open without the accordion automatically closing those you previously opened. Ultimately, for the sake of simplicity and control, it’s left to the user to manually expand and collapse the various subsections and descriptions by toggling the gray panels.

On smart phones and tablets only, the last tapped gray panel will turn orange and stay that way until something else is tapped. This may prove helpful in finding your previous position in the table of contents after an insouciant scrolling binge.

Alternatively a non-accordion style table of contents, where the short descriptions of the suttas are not hidden by default, is also available. See “Default sutta index,” below.

Offline edition …

The sutta translations can also be browsed and read offline by downloading an eBook version. The entire Sutta Piṭaka, with full hyperlinked cross-references provides a similar, if not superior experience, to online browsing (or even offline browsing with a mirrored website stored locally). Page loading and following cross-references are snappier without internet latency, and the eBooks have some additional features like nested tables of contents, bookmarking, note taking and highlighting. There’s also the ability to load them onto handheld devices and eReaders like the Kindle or Kobe, and eReaders are particularly good for taking into the wilderness because of their light weight and extremely long battery life.

Due to the internal structure of the eBooks (specifically the epub, azw3 and mobi formats), even very large ones like this hardly lag in navigation and page rendering, even on the oldest, smallest and most underpowered devices. On a computer, the responsiveness is immediate. Large pdfs, on the other hand, are basically unusable on small devices, and not recommended even for powerful computers.

All that is needed is an eReader. For Kindles, the azw3 format is better, but the mobi also works. For everything else, the epub format is the best. For a laptop or desktop computer, Calibre is free and excellent eReader software that works on Windows, OSX and Linux. For Android eBookDroid is free and popular, and the iPhone has iBooks installed by default.

Dīgha Nikāya …

.: The Long Collection :.

The Dīgha Nikāya, or Long Collection, is named after the length not of the collection, but of its individual suttas. There are 34 in all, many of them among the most polished literary compositions in the Pali Canon. This anthology contains complete translations of nine suttas, and partial translations of two.

An introductory portrait of the Buddha, dealing both with the minor reasons for which people might praise him—his virtues—and the more subtle and profound reasons for praising him: his comprehension of the difference between right and wrong view, and the release that comes from going beyond both. The Buddha uses right view about kamma and dependent co-arising to analyze 62 instances of wrong view, focusing less on the content of the views and more on the kamma of clinging to them: what actions give rise to them, and the destinations that come from acting on them. His analysis shows that right view, used in this way, is superior because it leads to the highest freedom.

King Ajātasattu, disappointed with the other spiritual teachers of the day, approaches the Buddha and asks, “What are the fruits of the contemplative life, visible in the here and now?” His account of why other teachers disappointed him with their answers to this question shows clearly both what the Dhamma is not and also how a teacher should not teach: In all the cases, the teachers present a canned doctrine that doesn’t address the question. The Buddha’s answer, which does address the question, gives a comprehensive account of what the Dhamma is—a path of training leading to a clear goal—illustrating each stage of the training with vivid similes.

Poṭṭhapāda the wanderer presents the Buddha with a series of questions on the topic of perception. In response, the Buddha shows his skill as a teacher—adopting, for Poṭṭhapāda’s sake, the terms in which the questions are phrased, but then giving those terms new meanings, in line with the practice of the Dhamma.

This discourse explores the role of miracles and conversations with heavenly beings as a possible basis for faith and belief. The Buddha does not deny the reality of such experiences, but he points out that—of all possible miracles—the only reliable one is the miracle of instruction in the proper training of the mind. As for heavenly beings, they are subject to greed, anger, and delusion, and so the information they give—especially with regard to the miracle of instruction—is not necessarily trustworthy. Thus the only valid basis for faith is the instruction that, when followed, brings about the end of one’s own mental defilements. The tale that concludes the discourse is one of the finest examples of the early Buddhist sense of humor.

When a person gains awakening and then teaches the path to others, doesn’t he or she necessarily get involved in fruitless entanglements? Shouldn’t such a person, to avoid criticism, remain silent? The Buddha addresses these questions, showing that they are motivated by ill will, and then sets out the standards for measuring whether a teacher can or cannot legitimately be criticized.

One of the most profound discourses in the Pali Canon, giving an extended treatment of the teachings of dependent co-arising (paṭicca samuppāda) and not-self (anattā) in an outlined context of how these teachings function in practice.

This vast discourse, a memorial to the Buddha, narrates the events of the last year of his life and the weeks immediately following his total unbinding. As with any memorial, the narrative seems to be shaped by two concerns: the desire (1) to show that the person memorialized was worthy of love and respect, and (2) to indicate the importance of continuing to live by the good traditions that the person established. In particular, this sutta presents both a detailed etiquette for how the Buddha should be honored, and a more summary account of how the Dhamma should be practiced in a way to keep it alive. Its account shows how a devotional attitude to the Buddha does not have to conflict with the practice of the Dhamma, and how, in fact, the practice of the Dhamma is the best way to show homage to the Buddha.

A large group of devas pays a visit to the Buddha one night, and the Buddha tells the monks, in a long poem, the names of the major devas who came to see him. This sutta is the closest thing in the Pali Canon to a “Who’s Who” of the deva worlds, providing useful material for anyone interested in the cosmology of early Buddhism.

In this excerpt, Sakka, the deva-king, asks the Buddha about the sources of conflict, and about the path of practice that can bring it to an end. This discourse ends with a humorous account about Sakka’s frustration in trying to learn the Dhamma from other contemplatives. It's hard to find a teacher when you’re a king.

This sutta sets out the full formula for the practice of establishing mindfulness, and then gives an extensive account of one phrase in the formula: what it means to remain focused on any of the four frames of reference—body, feelings, mind, and mental qualities—in and of itself.

Toward the end of his life, the Buddha describes his accomplishment in establishing, through the Dhamma and Vinaya, a complete holy life that will endure after his passing. Listing some of the criticisms that might be leveled against him and his Dhamma-Vinaya, he shows how those criticisms should be refuted.

Majjhima Nikāya …

.: The Middle Collection :.

The Majjhima Nikāya — the Middle Collection — is the second collection in the Sutta Piṭaka. It takes its name from the length of the discourses it contains: shorter than those in the Long Collection, longer than those in the Connected and Numerical Collections. There are 152 suttas in all. This anthology offers complete translations of 79 of these suttas, and excerpts from five.

MN 1–33 …

The Majjhima Nikāya opens with one of the few suttas where his listeners did NOT delight in his words. In it, the Buddha dismisses the tendency—common both in his time and in ours—to posit a metaphysical principle from which the universe emanates.

The wishes that can be fulfilled by brining the precepts to perfection, being committed to inner tranquility of awareness, not neglecting jhāna, being endowed with insight, and frequenting empty dwellings.

This sutta sets out the full formula for the practice of establishing mindfulness, and then gives an extensive account of one phrase in the formula: what it means to remain focused on any of the four frames of reference—body, feelings, mind, and mental qualities—in and of itself.

How the pleasure of jhāna, rather than the practice of austerities, is what allows the mind both to avoid the drawbacks that come from attachment to sensual pleasures and to achieve the even greater pleasure of unbinding.

A brahman looking for a debate asks the Buddha a question. The Buddha’s answer stymies him, and when the Buddha later explains his answer to the monks before returning to his dwelling, they are mystified as well. At their request, Ven. Mahā Kaccāna explains the Buddha’s explanation by showing how conflict derives from the perceptions and categories of papañca: mental objectification.

The Buddha describes how he found the path to awakening by dividing his thoughts into two sorts: those imbued with sensuality, ill will, or harmfulness on the one hand, and those imbued with renunciation, non-ill will, and harmlessness on the other.

The Buddha chides a monk who has become so entangled with the nuns that he cannot bear hearing them criticized, and they cannot bear hearing him criticized. The Buddha then tells the story of a slave who deliberately tests her mistress’s reputation for gentleness and patience. He concludes with some memorable similes that suggest the right frame of mind for maintaining patience and goodwill in the face of the vagaries of human speech.

After presenting two memorable similes for how and when the Dhamma is to be grasped, the Buddha discusses doctrines of self, rejecting not only those that define the self in terms of the aggregates, but also those that define it in terms of all that can be pondered and known, and in terms of the cosmos as a whole.

After stating that all the Dhamma is contained in the four noble truths, Ven. Sāriputta appears to embark on a discussion of all four truths. His discussion, though, focuses on only one part of the first noble truth—the form clinging-aggregate—but in the course of the discussion he is able to show how all the other truths relate to that one part.

After being challenged by Saccaka—who had insinuated that the Buddha’s mind was not overcome by pleasure or pain simply because he had never experienced extreme pleasures or pains—the Buddha recounts the extreme pleasures and pains he encountered in his quest for awakening.

A long discourse in which the Buddha discusses how a proper understanding of consciousness—as a causally-dependent process—not only helps to explain how it leads to birth but also is useful in inducing the dispassion that can actually bring about the end of birth.

Dhammadinnā the nun answers questions posed by her former husband, Visākha. Topics include: self-identification, the noble eightfold path, fabrication, feeling, and the cessation of feeling and perception.

Teaching a group of monks who have been quarreling over a minor matter, the Buddha outlines the causes for harmony in a group and reminds the monks of the purpose of their training: the right ending of suffering and stress.

Using seven graphic similes for the drawbacks of sensual passions, the Buddha in this excerpt teaches Potaliya the householder what it means, in the discipline of a noble one, to have entirely cut off one's worldly affairs.

The Buddha explains his criteria for what is and isn’t worth saying. In so doing, he also displays his skill in answering questions. In other words, here he is not only talking about right speech but also demonstrating right speech in action.

The Buddha explains to a group of householders why certain tenets concerning action, rebirth, and non-material realities can be safely adopted as working hypotheses in the conduct of one’s life, prior to their being affirmed on awakening.

The Buddha teaches Rāhula, his son, the importance of truthfulness and one of the most essential lessons in Dhamma practice: the need to reflect on one’s actions before, while, and after doing them. (This sutta is apparently one of the series of passages that King Asoka recommended for study and reflection by all practicing Buddhists.)

The famous simile of the man shot with the arrow: If you insist on engaging in useless theoretical discussions, you are like a man who, shot by an arrow, refuses to have the arrow removed until he has satisfied his curiosity about how the arrow was made and who shot it.

MN 70–111 …

A discourse on the importance of conviction in the Buddhist path. Not only is conviction a prerequisite for listening to the Buddha’s teachings with respect, but—as is shown by the unusual discussion here categorizing the types of noble disciples—it can underlie the practice all the way to the deathless.

The Buddha explains why he doesn’t answer speculative questions about the world, the self, and the fate of an awakened person after death. He concludes with two similes—the extinguished fire and the boundless sea—to indicate how an awakened person lies beyond the categories of existence, non-existence, both, or neither.

The highest attainment is not simply the abandoning of unskillful actions and a reversion to childlike harmlessness. It requires first developing skillful habits and skillful resolves, and then letting them go.

The story of the monk whom the Buddha praised as foremost among his disciples in going forth through faith. The first part deals with his parents’ opposition to his ordaining, and their attempts to lure him back to the lay life after he was ordained. In the second part, he explains to a king what inspired him to go forth in the first place.

King Pasenadi of Kosala figures prominently in many discourses as a devout follower of the Buddha. In this discourse we learn how—thanks to Queen Mallika's astuteness—the king first became favorably disposed toward the Buddha.

A case study in how social advantages can be a spiritual liability. The discussion focuses on the factors needed for release—attainable by all people, regardless of caste or race—while the gently satirical frame story shows how the life of a king, or any highly placed person, presents obstacles to developing those factors.

The Buddha enters into a debate with a brahman on whether one's worth as a person is determined by birth or by behavior. Although some of the arguments he presents here deal with the specifics of brahman caste pride, many of them are applicable to issues of racism and nationalism in general.

A pompous brahman teenager questions the Buddha about safeguarding, awakening to, and attaining the truth. In the course of his answer, the Buddha describes the criteria for choosing a reliable teacher and how best to learn from such a person.

A poignant story of a lay person whose welfare was of special concern to Ven. Sāriputta, this discourse teaches two lessons in heedfulness. (1) If you're engaging in wrong livelihood, don't expect to escape the karmic consequences even if you're doing it to fulfill your duties to your family, parents, or friends. (2) Don't be satisfied with mundane levels of attainment in meditation when there is still more to be done.

The Buddha refutes a Jain theory of kamma, which claims that one's present experience is determined solely by one’s past actions, and that the effects of past unskillful actions can be “burned away” through austerities. The Buddha here sketchs one of his most important teachings on kamma: that present experience is shaped both by the results of past deeds and by present actions. This interaction of present and past is what opens up the possibility of awakening.

The Buddha addresses the problem of meditators who overestimate their progress in meditation. The sutta ends with a warning: Anyone who claims awakening as license for unrestrained behavior is like someone who fails to follow the doctor’s orders after surgery, who knowingly drinks a cup of poison, or who deliberately extends a hand toward a deadly snake.

Advanced meditation instruction: how the fourth jhāna and the formless attainments can be developed and used as a basis for unbinding, and how it is important not to cling to the equanimity resulting from insight and strong concentration.

Ven. Ānanda explains how the Sangha maintains its unity and internal discipline after the Buddha’s passing. As his discussion shows, early Buddhist practice had no room for many practices that developed in later Buddhist traditions, such as appointed lineage holders, elected ecclesiastical heads, or the use of mental defilements as a basis for concentration practice.

A thorough discussion of issues related to the five aggregates. Toward the end of the discussion, a monk thinks that he has found a loophole in the teaching. The way the Buddha handles this incident shows the proper use of the teachings on the aggregates: not as a metaphysical theory, but as a tool for questioning clinging and so gaining release.

A discussion of many aspects of the noble eightfold path: how the first seven factors are requisites for noble right concentration; how all the factors depend on right view, right mindfulness, and right effort; how right mindfulness is concerned, not with radical acceptance, but with abandoning the factors of the wrong path and developing the factors of the right; and how the path of the stream-enterer relates to the path of the arahant.

Does the desire for awakening get in the way of awakening? According to this discourse, the question of desiring or not desiring is irrelevant as long as you develop the qualities that constitute the path to awakening. The discourse is also very clear on the point that there are right and wrong paths of practice. As a geographer might say, not every river flows to the sea.

Two lessons in the dangers of quick generalization. In the first, the Buddha points out that the perception of all feeling as stressful is not appropriate at all stages of the practice. In the second, he shows that generalizing too quickly on the basis of what one sees in meditation—particularly concerning the relationship between good and bad actions on the one hand, and good and bad immediate rebirth on the other—can lead to serious wrong view.

Ven. Mahā Kaccāna explains how to attend to outside objects without letting the mind become externally scattered, and how to focus in strong states of absorption without becoming internally positioned. It’s not easy, but it can be done.

A poignant story in which a wanderer, searching for the Buddha, meets the Buddha without realizing it. He recognizes his mistake only after the Buddha gives him a profound discourse on four determinations and the six properties of experience. An excellent illustration of the Buddha’s statement, “Whoever sees the Dhamma sees me.”

Ven. Nandaka teaches a group of nuns twice on the theme of inconstancy, driving his point home with striking similes. It was an effective teaching: After the second round, all the nuns attained, at the very least, the first level of awakening.

A contemplation on not-self based on six aspects of each of the six sense media: the internal medium, the external medium, the consciousness, the contact, the feeling, and the craving based on each pair of sense media.

Saṁyutta Nikāya …

.: The Connected Collection :.

The Saṁyutta Nikāya, a collection of short to medium-length discourses, takes its name from the way the discourses are organized into groups connected (saṁyutta) by a particular theme. In some cases, the theme is a topic. In others it may be the name of an interlocutor, a place, a group of people, or—as in the Simile-Connected discourses—a formal attribute of the discourses themselves. The complete collection, counting all its formulaic expansions, contains more than 2,900 discourses, of which 367 are translated here.

This discourse incorporates the teaching on the four nutriments (see SN 12:63–64) into the pattern for dependent co-arising, placing them in the position usually occupied by clinging: after craving and before becoming.

This discourse describes the link between fabrications and consciousness in dependent co-arising, and shows how intention and underlying obsessions—with ignorance of the four noble truths being the basis for all obsessions—play a role in constructing awareness of the present moment.

Focusing on the allure of the objects of clinging leads to stress. Focusing on their drawbacks leads to the ending of stress. This sutta illustrates this principle with the analogy of feeding and not feeding a large fire.

A contemplation to keep your compassion from being condescending: When you see someone who has fallen on hard times, you should conclude that you have experienced just that sort of thing in the long course of transmigration.

A contemplation to prevent envy and resentment of others’ good fortune:When you see someone who is well-provided in life, you should conclude that you have experienced just that sort of thing in the long course of transmigration.

The Buddha leads a group of monks to awakening by teaching that the blood they have shed in the course of transmigration—through being executed for crimes or through being slaughtered as animals—is greater than the water in all the oceans.

Toward the end of his life, the Buddha stated that the proper way to pay homage to him was to “practice the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma.” This sutta explains what that means, in terms of cultivating disenchantment (nibbidā).

Toward the end of his life, the Buddha stated that the proper way to pay homage to him was to “practice the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma.” This sutta explains what that means, in terms of focusing on inconstancy (anicca).

Toward the end of his life, the Buddha stated that the proper way to pay homage to him was to “practice the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma.” This sutta explains what that means, in terms of focusing on stress/suffering (dukkha).

Toward the end of his life, the Buddha stated that the proper way to pay homage to him was to “practice the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma.” This sutta explains what that means, in terms of focusing on not-self (anattā).

The Buddha recommends knowing each aggregate in terms of the aggregate itself, its origination, its cessation, the path of practice leading to its cessation, its allure, its drawbacks, and the escape from it. He also describes three ways of investigating the aggregates: in terms of the six sense media, in terms of properties, and in terms of dependent co-arising.

Some schools of Buddhism teach that there is a qualitative difference between the liberation of a Buddha and that of an arahant disciple — namely, that a Buddha awakens to one level of truth, whereas an arahant awakens to another. This sutta shows that the Buddha saw the distinction in different terms.

This discourse is also known as the Anatta-lakkhaṇa Sutta, the Discourse on the Not-self Characteristic, although this title is not found in the Canon. According to Mv I, this was the first of the Buddha’s discourses during which his listeners became arahants.

Sometimes it is said that people are attached to things because they believe those things to have an inherent essence or existence. Here, however, the Buddha points out that people are attached to things because they pay attention to the pleasure offered by those things, and ignore the stress they cause.

After the Buddha has gone into seclusion, Ven. Ānanda leads a group of monks to visit him and to hear the Dhamma. The Buddha responds by addressing the question, “Knowing in what way, seeing in what way, does one without delay put an end to effluents?”

The Buddha comforts and encourages one of his cousins who has become dissatisfied with the holy life. He concludes with a simile, comparing the noble eightfold path to a path going through a dense forest (ignorance), a marshy swamp (sensual desires), past a steep drop-off (anger & despair), and finally arriving at a patch of level ground: unbinding.

Two vivid similes for the practice, one illustrating the principle that results depend, not on wishing, but on actually doing the practice; the other illustrating the gradual nature of progress along the path.

The ten suttas in this saṁyutta discuss the different ways that a faith-follower, a Dhamma-follower, and a stream-enterer (see MN 70) understand the inconstancy of different aspects of experience: (1) the six sense bases; (2) their objects; (3) consciousness; (4) contact; (5) feeling; (6) perception; (7) intentions; (8) craving; (9) the six properties (earth, liquid, fire, wind, space, and consciousness); and (10) the five aggregates.

The ten suttas in this saṁyutta discuss the benefits of overcoming passion-delight (another term for clinging—see SN 22:121) for different aspects of experience: (1) the six sense bases; (2) their objects; (3) consciousness; (4) contact; (5) feeling; (6) perception; (7) intentions; (8) craving; (9) the six properties (earth, liquid, fire, wind, space, and consciousness); and (10) the five aggregates.

Saḷāyatana-vagga | on the Six Sense Bases …

The Buddha teaches a group of 1,000 monks who formerly worshiped fire. Stating that the six senses and all the processes dependent on them are aflame with the fires of defilement and suffering, he explains how to put the fires out. During his explanation, all 1,000 monks gain awakening.

Two similes. The Buddha explains the practice of restraint of the senses with the simile of how to restrain a corn-eating ox, and the search for an “I” in the aggregates with the simile of the king looking for the sound in a lute.

Two topics connected through the theme of fabrication: (1) How is it that—even though the Buddha describes feelings as pleasant, painful, and neither pleasant nor pain—he also describes all feelings as stressful? (2) How does progress through the jhānas and formless attainments involve the step-by-step cessation, stilling, and calming of fabrications?

Feeling, its origination, the path of practice leading to its origination, its cessation of feeling, the path of practice leading to its cessation, its allure, its drawback, and the escape from feeling.

Using the similes of the uncountable number of grains of sand in the River Ganges, and the unmeasureable amount of water in the ocean, Khemā the nun explains why a Tathāgata, after death, cannot be described as existing, not existing, both, or neither.

To someone who has comprehended the aggregates, their origination, their cessation, and the path of practice leading to their cessation, thoughts of describing a Tathāgata after death simply do not occur.

The Buddha comforts Ven. Ānanda after Ven. Sāriputta’s passing away: “When he totally unbound, did Sāriputta take the aggregate of virtue… concentration… discernment… release… the aggregate of knowledge & vision of release along with him?”

The higher results of discerning the origination, the passing away, the allure, the drawbacks, and the escape from the five faculties of conviction, persistence, mindfulness, concentration, and discernment.

At the Buddha’s request, Ven. Moggallāna displays a feat of psychic power to bring a group of rowdy monks to their senses. The Buddha then explains to the monks the other feats that Moggallāna has mastered through his mastery of the four bases of power.

The story of the monks who committed suicide after contemplating the unattractiveness of the body. The Buddha explains how the sixteen steps of breath meditation can disperse any unskillful states that may arise while contemplating other meditation themes.

At the end of his life, the Buddha told the assembled monks to gain consummation through heedfulness—even though the most backward of the monks there were already stream-winners. This sutta explains what it means for a stream-winner to be heedful or heedless.

The Buddha’s first sermon, in which he sets forth the four noble truths and explains that he claimed to have reached awakening only after having purified three levels of knowledge with regard to each of the four truths.

If it were possible to make an offer that you would be speared by 300 spears a day for 100 years, yet be guaranteed a realization of the four noble truths at the end of the 100 years, why it would be worthwhile to take the offer.

Aṅguttara Nikāya …

.: The Numerical Collection :.

The Aṅguttara Nikāya, a collection of short to medium-length discourses, takes its name from the way the discourses are grouped by the number of their parts (aṅga), with the number growing progressively higher (uttara) with each group. No single English term can convey the full meaning of this name, although the translation Numerical Collection gives a workable idea of the principle behind it. The complete collection, counting all its formulaic expansions, contains more than 9,500 discourses. When these expansions are not counted, the total comes to approximately 2,300 discourses, of which 346 are translated here.

The Buddha teaches restraint and generosity to two aged brahmans who have no good deeds to look back on: “When a house is aflame, the vessel salvaged is the one that will be of use, not the one left there to burn.”

Whoever prevents another from giving a gift creates three obstructions: an obstruction to the merit of the giver, an obstruction to the recipient’s gains, and prior to that he undermines and harms his own self.

In a rare instance where the Buddha seeks out other sectarians to argue with them, he confronts three doctrines that, remaining stuck in a doctrine of inaction, leave their adherents unprotected from the impulse to engage in unskillful action: the belief that everything experienced is the result of old actions (a belief, ironically, frequently attributed to the Buddha himself), the belief that everything experienced is the result of a supreme being’s act of creation, and the belief that everything experienced is without cause.

The three roots of unskillful behavior, the three roots of skillful behavior, and how acting on the desire for power leads a person deeper into the unskillful roots, whereas not acting on that desire makes it easier to develop the skillful roots.

A follower of another teacher asks Ven. Ānanda, “Among us, sir, whose Dhamma is well-taught? Who has practiced well in this world? Who in the world is Well-Gone?” In response, Ven. Ānanda gets the man to answer his own question: an excellent example of Ven. Ānanda’s skill in answering questions.

By discussing the distinction between the virtue, concentration, and discernment of one in training and the virtue, concentration, and discernment of one whose training is complete, Ven. Ānanda answers the question, “Does concentration come first, and knowledge after, or does knowledge come first, and concentration after?”

A monk complains to the Buddha that he cannot train in all the many rules of the Pāṭimokkha. The Buddha recommends that he focus instead on the three trainings, under which all those rules are gathered.

Three analogies to explain why an unskillful deed done by one person can lead that person to hell, while the same deed done by another person may hardly be felt at all. An important sutta for explaining why past kamma does not fully account for what is felt in the present moment. Present kamma plays an important role as well.

Using the analogy of a goldsmith, the Buddha explains why concentration practice should alternate, when appropriate, among three themes: the theme of concentration, the theme of uplifted energy, and the theme of equanimity.

Three types of sagacity—bodily, verbal, and mental—defined. This sutta is apparently the “sagacity” sutta that King Asoka advised monks, nuns, lay men, and lay women to listen to frequently and to ponder so that the True Dhamma will last a long time.

Fours …

“It’s because of not understanding and not penetrating noble virtue… noble concentration… noble discernment… noble release that we have transmigrated & wandered on for such a long, long time, you & I.”

Like any good family, the “family” of the noble ones has its fine traditions. These traditions are special, however, in that they lie outside the culture of any nation, and they lead to conquest, not over others, but over displeasure within. (This is one of the suttas that King Asoka advised monks, nuns, lay men, and lay women to listen to frequently and to ponder so that the True Dhamma will last a long time.)

Four types of individuals: one born in darkness and headed for darkness, one born in darkness and headed for light, one born in light and headed for darkness, and one born in light and headed for light

The Buddha ranks four types of individuals: one who practices for his/her own benefit and the benefit of others; one who practices for his/her own benefit but not for the benefit others; one who practices for the benefit of others but not for his/her own; and one who practices neither for his/her own benefit nor for the benefit of others.

The levels of rebirth to which mastery of each of the four jhānas can lead, along with the subsequent course of one who is an educated disciple of the noble ones contrasted with the subsequent course of one who is not.

The levels of rebirth to which mastery of each of the four brahmavihāras can lead, along with the subsequent course of one who is an educated disciple of the noble ones contrasted with the subsequent course of one who is not.

Ven. Ānanda teaches a nun that although food can be used to lead to the abandoning of food, craving to lead to the abandoning of craving, and conceit to lead to the abandoning of conceit, the same principle doesn’t apply to sexual intercourse.

Four paths of practice to arahantship: insight preceded by tranquility, tranquility preceded by insight, tranquility and insight developed in tandem, and concentration attained after restlessness concerning the Dhamma has been brought under control.

Ven. Mahā Koṭṭhita asks Ven. Sāriputta: “With the remainderless fading & cessation of the six contact-media, is it the case that there is anything else? …nothing else? …both? …neither?” Ven. Sāriputta, explains why none of these alternatives is the case.

Love is not one of the immeasurable mind states. This sutta not only explains why, but also shows how love born of love, aversion born of love, love born of aversion, and aversion born of aversion can be overcome, along with the rewards of overcoming these things.

Princess Sumanā asks the Buddha about the different rewards awaiting two people who are equal in terms of conviction, virtue, and discernment, but who differ in that one gives alms and the other doesn’t.

This sutta and the three following it are apparently the “future danger” suttas that King Asoka advised monks, nuns, lay men, and lay women to listen to frequently and to ponder so that the True Dhamma will last a long time. This sutta advises reflecting on the dangers of living in the wilderness as a goad to practice.

Five qualities of a gift made by a person on integrity—giving with a sense of conviction, attentively, in season, with an empathetic heart, and without adversely affecting oneself or others—and the rewards of giving in these ways.

Illustrating one of the motivations in the above sutta, Ven. Ānanda tests another monk: “What is supreme among sights? Supreme among sounds? Supreme among pleasures? Supreme among perceptions? Supreme among states of becoming?”

Recalling an incident from the time of the Buddha Kassapa, the Buddha breaks into a smile. He then tells Ven. Ānanda what he recalls: a story that illustrates well the way in which conceit can be turned to good use in the practice.

Another version of the story in 5:30, in which the Buddha delivers a stern rebuke to Ven. Nāgita, explaining why he is not attracted to “this slimy-excrement-pleasure, this torpor-pleasure, this pleasure of gains, offerings, & fame.”

In the Buddha’s time, the term “nāga” was applied to any large being or tree, such as an elephant, a serpent, or a tree. In this sutta, though, the Buddha defines a nāga as anyone who does no misdeed in body, speech, or mind. Ven. Udāyin, inspired by the Buddha’s statement, composes a spontaneous poem, celebrating the arahant as the true nāga.

Ven. Mahā Cunda counsels the monks: “‘Being Dhamma-devotee monks, we will speak in praise of jhāna monks.’ That’s how you should train yourselves.… ‘Being jhāna monks, we will speak in praise of Dhamma-devotee monks.’ That’s how you should train yourselves.”

At Ven. Sāriputta’s request, Ven. Ānanda explains how a monk should practice so that he hears Dhamma he has not heard, so that the Dhammas he has heard do not get confused, so that the Dhammas he has touched with his awareness stay current, and so that he understands what previously was not understood.

A group of elder monks offer their interpretations of a line from a verse in Sn 5:2. The issue is then taken to the Buddha, who states that all six interpretations are valid, but then identifies which interpretation he had in mind when stating the verse.

In a series of similes—ranging from a person who sinks down and stays sunk to a person who crosses over a flood and stands on high ground—the Buddha describes people in terms of how far they go with their grasp of the Dhamma.

AN 7:21Bhikkhu-aparihāniya Sutta | Conditions for No Decline among the Monks

Seven conditions that will prevent the Saṅgha of monks from declining.

Because a disciple of the noble ones sees views, the origination of views, the cessation of views, and the path of practice leading to the cessation of views, he/she sees no need to answer any of the ten undeclared questions.

Seven qualities of a monk worthy of respect: having a sense of Dhamma, a sense of meaning, a sense of himself, a sense of moderation, a sense of time, a sense of social gatherings, and a sense of distinctions among individuals.

Eights …

Eight worldly conditions: gain, loss, status, disgrace, censure, praise, pleasure, & pain. If you don’t reflect properly on them, welcoming the desirable and rebelling against the undesirable, they keep you from being released.

Why it’s important for a monk to keep conquering, again and again, any arisen material gain, lack of material gain, status, lack of status, offerings, lack of offerings, evil ambition, and evil friendship.

An elderly monk asks for a brief teaching that he can then use when practicing alone. The Buddha teaches him eight concentration practices, developing the jhāna factors based on the four brahmavihāras and the four establishings of mindfulness.

A longer version of the story in 5:30 and 6:42, in which the Buddha delivers a stern rebuke to Ven. Nāgita, explaining why he is not attracted to “this slimy-excrement-pleasure, this torpor-pleasure, this pleasure of gains, offerings, & fame.”

Ven. Sāriputta quizzes a junior monk about thoughts and resolves: What is their basis? How do they go to multiplicity? What is their origination, meeting place, presiding state, governing principle, surpassing state, heartwood? Where to they gain a footing?

The Buddha tells of a great offering he made in a previous lifetime, but then goes on to tell how goodwill and the perception of inconstancy are much more fruitful than the most fruitful gift possible.

Using the simile of the foolish, inexperienced cow, the Buddha shows why it is wise to establish oneself well in a concentration attainment before trying to move on to the next one. When these attainments are well mastered in this way, they lead to the six higher knowledges whenever there is an opening.

The levels of concentration—the first three formless attainments and the concentration that is the fruit of arahantship—in which one is not percipient of the five physical senses even though they are present, and yet one is nevertheless percipient.

The Buddha describes how a person in the first eight of the concentration attainments comes to the end of the cosmos, defined as the five strings of sensuality. Only by gaining discernment, though, does one cross over attachment to the cosmos.

A humorous sutta in which a monk in the nine concentration attainments is compared to an elephant who, going off into seclusion from the bustle of the herd, scratches himself with a branch to allay his itch.

Tens …

The Buddha—asked to describe an attainment of concentration in which one is not percipient of the physical properties, the formless attainments, this world or the next world, and yet one is still percipient—replies.

Even if you can talk about the Dhamma, if you are overcome by greed. aversion, delusion, anger, hostility, hypocrisy, spite, selfishness, evil envy, or evil longing, you are still a pauper in the Dhamma.

Like supremacy in the human and deva worlds, exalted states of mind—even experiences of all-encompassing white light and non-dual consciousness—are all subject to change and aberration. In this sutta the Buddha offers a series of contemplations for inducing disenchantment and dispassion for even the most supreme things in the cosmos.

The Buddha explains to his relatives why the bliss that comes from earning a wage is next to nothing when compared to the bliss that comes from sacrificing one’s work on the uposatha day to observe the eight precepts.

Anāthapiṇḍika explains to a group of sectarians why right view is a special form of view: Holding to other views, one is holding to stress, but using right view enables you to see the escape even from right view.

After learning why the Buddha doesn’t take a stance on the ten declared questions, Uttiya asks him what percentage of the cosmos will be led by his teaching to release. The Buddha remains silent; Ven. Ānanda takes Uttiya aside and, using the simile of the wise gatekeeper, explains why.

In many discourses, the Buddha speaks of the near shore and the far shore. In this discourse he explains the near shore as the ten factors of the wrong path, and the far shore as the ten factors of the right. For another explanation of “near shore” and “far shore,” see SN 35:197 and Sn 5.

The Buddha explains to Cunda the silversmith—who later offered him his last meal—that purification is a matter, not of rites, but of following the ten courses of good conduct: three bodily, four verbal, and three mental.

A brahman asks: When the merit of a gift is dedicated to the deceased, do they receive that merit? The Buddha explains that they do if they are hungry ghosts, but then goes on to state that—better than following the course of action leading to rebirth as a hungry ghost, and there waiting for dedications of merit—one should follow the course of action leading to rebirth in heaven, where one can enjoy the fruits of the gifts that one gave in this lifetime.

Elevens …

Beginning with skillful virtues, and ascending all the way through dispassion, the Buddha discusses the purpose and reward of different aspects of the practice, showing how the more basic parts of the practice have the higher ones as their reward.

Using the simile of the thoughts that absorb a thoroughbred horse as opposed to the thoughts that absorb an unbroken colt, the Buddha describes the jhāna of an arahant as opposed to the “jhāna” of one who has not found escape from the five hindrances.

When the Buddha and the monks prepare to leave at the end of the Rains retreat, Mahānāma—a streamwinner—asks the Buddha what he should meditate on in their absence. The Buddha advises developing the five strengths and practicing recollection of six things: the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Saṅgha, his own virtue, his own generosity, and the virtues of the devas that are found within him.

Khuddaka Nikāya …

.: The Short Collection :.

Complete translations of the first five books of the Khuddaka Nikāya—the Khuddakapāṭha, Dhammapada, Udāna, Itivuttaka, and Sutta Nipāta—are included, as well as anthologies drawn from the eigth and ninth books, respectively—the Theragāthā and Therīgāthā.

Khuddakapāṭha …

.: Short Passages :.

This, the first book in the Khuddaka Nikāya (Collection of Short Discourses), appears to have been designed as a primer for novice monks and nuns. In nine short passages it covers the basic topics that one would need to know when beginning Buddhist monastic life; many of the passages also serve as useful introductions to Buddhist practice in general.

Appendices …

Itivuttaka …

.: This was said by the Buddha :.

A collection of 112 short discourses, it takes its name from the statement at the beginning of each of its discourses: this (iti) was said (vuttaṁ) by the Blessed One. The collection as a whole is attributed to a laywoman named Khujjuttarā, who worked in the palace of King Udena of Kosambī as a servant to one of his queens, Sāmāvati. Because the Queen could not leave the palace to hear the Buddha’s discourses, Khujjuttarā went in her place, memorized what the Buddha said, and then returned to the palace to teach the Queen and her 500 ladies-in-waiting. For her efforts, the Buddha cited Khujjuttarā as the foremost of his laywomen disciples in terms of her learning. She was also an effective teacher: when the inner apartments of the palace later burned down, killing the Queen and her entourage, the Buddha commented (in Udāna 7:10) that all of the women had reached at least the first stage of awakening.

Sutta Nipāta …

.: The Discourse Group :.

The collection includes some of the most famous poems in the Pali Canon. It also contains two sets of poems that were apparently well-known in the Buddha’s time as deep expressions of advanced points of doctrine: the Aṭṭhaka Vagga, a set of sixteen poems on the theme of non-clinging, and the Pārāyana Vagga, a set of sixteen dialogues, with a prologue and epilogue, in which the Buddha provides succinct answers to questions posed to him by brahmans who appear to have been adept in concentration practice. In addition to these more well-known poems, the collection also contains many useful instructions of a highly practical nature, covering everything from the most basic standards of conduct to the most subtle issues of discernment.

I : The Snake Chapter (Uraga Vagga) …

A poetic dialogue contrasting the wealth and security of lay life with the wealth and security of a person who has lived the renunciate life to its culmination. If you have trouble relating to someone like Dhaniya who measures his wealth in cattle, then when reading this poem substitute stocks and bonds for cows and bulls, and economic downturn for rain.

The characteristics of the ideal sage, who finds happiness and security in living the solitary life. (This sutta is apparently one of the series of passages that King Asoka recommended for study and reflection by all practicing Buddhists.)

Another yakkha challenges the Buddha with riddles and threatens to “hurl out his mind, rip open his heart, or hurl him across the River Ganges” if he doesn’t solve the riddles to the yakkha’s satisfaction.

A follower of Devadatta slanders Ven. Sāriputta and Ven. Moggallāna and, after suffering a painful disease, falls into hell. The sutta then gives a graphic description of the sufferings awaiting him there.

The Buddha speaks in poignant terms of the saṁvega that led him to leave the household life. He concludes with recommendations for practice and a description of the person who has attained the goal of true peace and security.

Theragāthā …

.: Poems of the Elder Monks :.

This is an anthology consisting of 94 poems from the Theragāthā (Poems of the Elder Monks). It is the eighth text in the Khuddaka Nikāya. The Theragāthā contains a total of 264 poems, all attributed to early members of the monastic Saṅgha. Some of the poems are attributed to monks well-known from other parts of the Canon—such as Ānanda and Mahā Kassapa—whereas the majority are attributed to monks otherwise unknown. It is a landmark in the history of world literature. The Theragāthā contains the earliest extant descriptions extolling the beauties, not of domesticated nature, but of nature where it’s wild.

Celebrating the joys of practicing jhāna in the wilderness and what it means to be a “man of the four directions.”

Therīgāthā …

.: Poems of the Elder Nuns :.

This is an anthology consisting of 34 poems from the Therīgāthā (Poems of the Elder Nuns). It is the ninth text in the Khuddaka Nikāya. The Therīgāthā contains a total of 73 poems, all attributed to early members of the monastic Saṅgha. Some of the poems are attributed to nuns well-known from other parts of the Canon—such as Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī and Uppalavaṇṇā—whereas the majority are attributed to nuns otherwise unknown. It is a landmark in the history of world literature. The Therīgāthā is the earliest extant text depicting women’s spiritual experiences.